Fla. Cab Driver Charged With Killing 5

Published 8:00 pm, Wednesday, June 18, 2003

A cab driver was charged Thursday with killing five young women and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Paul Durousseau, 32, was indicted by a grand jury on five counts of first-degree murder. At a later hearing he was ordered held without bail.

The women ranged in age from 17 to 20; their bodies were found in December, January and February in ditches or their apartments.

Durousseau also faces two counts of aggravated child abuse for allegedly leaving two children alone with the body of their mother, one of the victims.

The public defender's office will represent Durousseau, but said Thursday it hadn't yet designated an attorney to handle the case.

Investigators connected Durousseau to the slayings after discovering that three of the women were last seen with a cab driver. He was arrested in early February for violating probation in a 2001 rape case in Jacksonville.

State Attorney Harry Shorstein said his office decided to seek the death penalty mostly because of the number of victims.

Police say DNA also ties Durousseau to a 1997 slaying in Columbus, Ga., near where he was stationed with the Army at Fort Benning. Warrants for Durousseau's arrest in that woman's death are pending.